Nothing is as it Seems
by rgoodfellow
Summary: A Sailor Moon, Highlander, Psycho-Six crossover. The Sailor Scouts travel with their new friends to Seacouver, and discover an old enemy isn't as dead as they'd believed.


This story is actually the sequel to something a friend of mine wrote... If you'd like to read that one, you'll have to go he hasn't opened an account with fanfiction.net yet

This is actually my first ever fanfic... I tried to follow conventions, so this is the only story I've written that actually has chapters. Hope you enjoy it!

Prologue: Seacouver  
  
The soothing sounds of the Pacific Ocean washed over the eight figures as they strolled down the beautiful Seacouver beach. The cool sea breeze whipped around them and, as the glow of the sunset bathed them in its golden-red light, they thought how refreshing a change it was from the action they had encountered in Colorado.   
  
The sun dropped below the horizon, and as it began to grow colder on the seashore, couples up and down the beach could be seen moving surreptitiously closer together. Ami and Override were no exception, as they strolled hand-in-hand down the beach next to Usagi and Mamoru. Mamoru had his arm around Usagi, and she was leaning into him for warmth as they came to a bonfire on the beach. There was no one nearby, and the group decided to warm themselves for a while. When they approached, Rei fell to her knees just at the perimeter of the fire's light, her eyes locked on the flames.  
  
"Rei, what's wrong?" Minako asked as she bent to help Rei to her feet.  
  
"Old hate. Old secrets. New love, Old hearts. Beware the enemy you think you know, for he is not what he seems," Rei's voice was not her own, as the future poured from her lips, "Remember, everyone has their secrets."  
  
Rei collapsed onto the sand, and her friends ran towards her. "What's wrong?? What happened?? Are you okay??" They chorused worriedly.  
  
"I-I don't know, everything just went blank. Did I say anything?" She asked as they propped her up near the fire.  
  
"Yeah, you said something about hate, and love and secrets and nothing being as it seems."  
  
"Wow, I've never had a vision just take over like that, but I've seen it happen to Grandpa. When a vision is that strong, it's usually very important, but I can't see why I had it now. We don't seem to be in any trouble." Rei was starting to regain her strength.  
  
"We should probably go back to our hotel and let you get some rest Rei," Override said from across the fire next to Ami. The air was getting chilly, and Ami stepped closer to Override and began to shiver. He noticed and put his arm around her, wrapping her in the folds of his coat.  
  
The group walked slowly back towards their hotel, looking in shop windows, and taking in the nighttime sights of the US as they went. Arriving back at their hotel, Minako looked at the bulletin board in the lobby. "Hey Ami," she said, "There's going to be a lecture on medieval history at the University tomorrow. Didn't you say you wanted to learn more about that type of stuff?"  
  
"Really? What time? I could go to that while you guys go shopping tomorrow." Ami exclaimed.   
  
"I'll go with you Ami, I enjoyed Medieval History when I was younger." Override said.  
  
"Could we come along?" Mamoru indicated himself and Usagi, "I'd really like to learn about those 'Knights in Shining Armour', and Western History and stuff."  
  
"Sure," Ami and Override chimed simultaneously, "we'd love to have you along."  
  
"Umm, I'm gonna pass guys," Robyn said, "I enjoyed medieval history, really, but I heard about this really neat antique shop over by the beach, and I'd like to check it out."   
  
"Ooh, shopping," Minako said, sounding a bit like Tim Taylor with a new electric drill. "Can I come?"   
  
"Sure, I hate going shopping alone. Hmm, let's see," Robyn leaned in and looked at the ad, "The lecture is about two hours long, so Minako and I could hit that store, and the mall, and pick you up at the University when the lecture is over."  
  
"Sounds like a plan," they got into the elevator, and headed for their rooms.  
  
Chapter One: Duncan  
  
A beautiful clear day dawned over the Pacific Ocean, as the group woke up for their first full day in Seacouver. The friends met in the lobby at about ten, and had a wonderful five-course brunch courtesy of the United States Government. Their meal was filling, and the group almost decided to sit by the hotel's indoor pool all day instead, but Override and Ami were adamant.  
  
"Well, we're going to the lecture. C'mon, don't you want to come Makoto?" Override asked, "There's supposed to be a lot of cute guys at the Seacouver University campus."  
  
"Cute guys? I'm there!"  
  
"Minako, are you still going shopping with me? The Orca mall is having a special sale. Every store is giving 50% off for their grand opening."  
  
"Sure," Minako said, practically drooling as she turned to the others, "Hey Rei, wanna come with us?"  
  
"Cool, I've always wanted to buy American fashions first hand."  
  
After breakfast, they all climbed into their black rental van, and headed towards the University. Robyn was at the wheel again simply because she was the only one with a driver's license that was valid in the US. They arrived with time to spare, and Robyn leaned out the window as Override, Ami, Usagi, Mamoru, and Makoto headed for the doors, "Override, if you get out early, call me on the cell phone, and I'll come and pick you up."  
  
"No problem Robyn, see you guys in a couple of hours."  
  
Override watched as Robyn, Minako and Rei drove off on their shopping spree, until the plain black van was out of sight. He turned to Ami, and took her hand as they walked into the crowded University. The campus was huge, and it took the group some time to find the lecture hall. When they finally did, all of them were afraid they had missed the beginning. Once they sat down however, they realised that the lecturer had not yet begun to speak.   
  
The lecturer was sitting cross-legged on the podium. When the last people had taken their seats, he stood. He was about thirty-five and fairly tall, with an athletic build, and long black hair that was pulled back in a ponytail. He was dressed simply, wearing jeans, a white T-shirt, and a black leather vest. He scanned the room as he spoke, "I am Duncan MacLeod of the Clan MacLeod, and I will be your teacher today.   
  
"Today I will be discussing the Crusades, and the problems that faced both sides. Feel free to ask questions any time, and I will try to answer them to the best of my ability."  
  
Makoto leaned back into her chair and whispered, "Wow, he is so much cuter than my last boyfriend," causing the others to groan.

* * *

The black van moved away from the University, merging with the traffic on the street. The three girls inside were trying to decide where to go first, "Well, let's flip a coin, okay?" Robyn said.  
  
"All right," Minako said, "Heads we go to the antique store, and tails we hit the mall."  
  
"Right, here," Rei said. Pulling a quarter out of her pocket, she tossed it into the air, and watched as flipped end over end. Rei held her hand out, and the coin landed in the exact center of her palm.  
  
"Well, what is it?" Robyn asked, never taking her eyes of the road.  
  
"It's...heads." was Minako's reply.  
  
Their vehicle pulled up outside of a small, grey building overlooking the ocean, and the three girls piled out. Rei looked up and read the name painted on the awning, " 'Bounty of the Highlands' What's a highland?" she asked, looking at Robyn.  
  
"They're in Scotland... umm, it's a place up in the mountains that has a lot of farmers and sheepherds. They're warriors too."  
  
"How good are they," Rei asked.  
  
"Well, the Romans thought they were pretty good fighters. They didn't even try to take it over, they just stopped their invasion at the edge of Scottish lands, and built a really big wall."  
  
"I thought that was in China." Minako asked innocently.  
  
Robyn looked at her sideways, "C'mon, let's go in and see what they've got."  
  
They entered to the sound of bells attached to the door. Rei had an all body shiver as she walked in, and Robyn looked over, "What's wrong?"  
  
"I do not know. Perhaps it was just a breeze, or... what is the Western saying?"  
  
"Someone walked over your grave?" Robyn was incredulous.  
  
"Yes, or..." she thought for a moment, "the uh... hebejebees, yes?"  
  
"Uh, okay."  
  
The store was filled with all sorts of beautiful and amazing pieces of ancient artwork. This was no hole-in-the-wall antique store, filled with everything from toaster-ovens to gingham tablecloths. The girls split up as soon as they walked in the door. Rei headed straight for a rack of rare weapons, Minako went for the Roman statuettes of Venus, and Robyn gravitated towards the jewellery case.   
  
"Hi, I'm Andrew. Can I help you?" asked a young surfer-type standing behind the counter. He had long, platinum blonde hair, that actually somehow managed to look natural.  
  
"No, I don't think so," Robyn said, looking at her two friends, as they wandered carefully through the store, looking at things that might have been made before their homeland on the moon was destroyed, "We're just looking around. She leaned on the case, and stared at the Egyptian burial necklaces, and the Incan jade earrings. They were amazing pieces, but her eyes were pulled to an exquisite example of Celtic silver work. It seemed to be a barrette, carved in a series of abstract geometric shapes. An astonishing pattern of loops and whorls surrounded the central figure of a simple, Celtic cross, carved so small as to be almost invisible to the naked eye.  
  
"It's beautiful," she breathed, "I've never seen anything like it. How much?"  
  
The two Senshi had come to peer over her shoulder, and were almost as awe-struck by the delicately carved barrette as Robyn was.  
  
"Umm, I'm sorry, but that piece isn't for sale." Andrew was apologetic, "It's part of the owner's private collection, and it's only here as part of the display. I'm not allowed to sell it. Perhaps I could interest you in a Ming vase instead?"  
  
"No thanks," Robyn's mind was made up, "I'd like to speak to the owner, and discuss it."  
  
"Uh, well, he's not here right now, but um, if you leave your phone number, I'll get him to call you. Are you sure you wouldn't like to look at some Ming vases?"  
  
"_Don't listen to him,_" Rei whispered to Robyn in Japanese, "_He'll just loose the number, and not tell his boss about it, I can tell. I bet he's on commission._"  
  
Robyn nodded to Rei, and then spoke to the clerk, "Yes, I'm sure. Does the owner come in very often? I'd like to talk to him face-to-face."  
  
Andrew shook his head. Robyn turned back to the others, "_Well, it looks to me like he's trying to rip off the boss by selling fakes, because the guy who told me about this place said the owner doesn't sell anything but the real stuff._" She spoke in Japanese as well, attempting to improve her pronunciation.   
  
"_Some of these are fakes?_" Rei asked.  
  
"_Yeah, those Ming vases certainly aren't Ming vases, and the spears over there are newer than Andrew's shirt._" Robyn replied.  
  
"_How can you tell?_"  
  
"Will he be around any time this week?" She asked, turning back to the attentive Andrew.  
  
"It's possible he might be in this afternoon, but I'm not sure, my shift ends at noon."  
  
"Could I get his name and phone number then?"  
  
"I'm not allowed to give you his phone number, but his name is Duncan MacLeod." He was beginning to wonder what they were talking about.  
  
"All right," Robyn sighed, "Thank-you anyway Andrew. We'll try back this afternoon." The three girls turned and walked out of the store. Climbing back into the van, Robyn put it in gear, and the girls headed to the mall to get down to some serious shopping.  
  
The next two hours were every bit as hectic as their trip off planet only days ago. Rei walked through every clothing store in the entire mall, trying on a few dresses and outfits. Minako wandered into whatever stores caught her fancy, and Robyn just sort of followed along. She managed to deek into a bookstore and a music store while the others were trying on clothes, and came out of each with a couple of things. By the time they had to leave the mall, the two Senshi had a cartload of packages each, and Robyn was extremely glad they had a van to put it all in. Some of their stuff was tourist junk, and souvenirs for their friends back home, but the rest of it was clothes and American made products that were scarce in Japan.

* * *

The black van pulled up in front of the University just as the others were coming out the front doors, "Nice timing Robyn!" Override called as he got into the van.  
  
"Just lucky I guess," she said, laughing.  
  
They headed back towards their hotel, telling each other about their day:  
  
"...and the Moors had mares and..."  
  
"...and it was the only red one, and it fit perfectly..."  
  
"...then he showed us exactly how heavy the armour was..."  
  
"...I found the CD, and it's great! It's got Pipe Dreamz and Elwood and..."  
  
"...Mamoru asked him how long the war lasted..."  
  
All in all, everyone seemed to have enjoyed their morning immensely, but their new dilemma was what to do to fill their afternoon. There weren't very many suggestions, until Robyn was hit with an inspiration, "Let's go rollerblading!"  
  
The others agreed, and they all went to their rooms to change into more suitable clothing. When they met again in the lobby, Usagi was wearing her favourite pink and yellow T-shirt, and a pair of shorts. Rei and Minako were wearing clothes they had bought on their American shopping spree, Rei her new red skirt, and Minako a pair of plaid flannel pants and a white blouse. Makoto was wearing a green skating dress, and Ami had on a pair of blue-Jean cut-offs, and a blue T-shirt. Robyn was the only one to pay any attention to the shirt tied around her waist, one she could have sworn Override had been wearing just a couple of days ago. Override and Mamoru were both in jeans and T-shirts, and Robyn was wearing a green plaid kilt, and a green T-shirt.  
  
They found a place just across the street from their hotel that rented rollerblades, and they all helped each other tie up their skates. Makoto was, of course, a natural and took to rollerblading almost as well as she did to skating. Usagi fared a little better than she had at skating, and began to improve quickly. The rest had various luck, but eventually everyone got the hang of it.  
  
The group skated down the cement trail, built for just that reason, and had a wonderful time weaving their way between the other skaters. The two couples in the bunch made their way hand in hand, Mamoru helping Usagi when she stumbled, and Ami doing the same for Override. The three unattached girls skated back and forth, between the couples, and around the other skaters in their path.  
  
As they went down the sidewalk, Minako pointed, "Isn't that the little shop we went to this morning?"  
  
"Yeah," Rei said, "Robyn, isn't the owner supposed to be there about now?"  
  
"Hey," Robyn said, "Yeah, I think I'll go in and see. Maybe I can charm that barrette out of him." and with that, she rollerbladed into the door of the shop, followed closely by a curious Override. The others sat down on a bench outside, and bought ice-cream cones from a guy on the beach.

* * *

Duncan heard the soft sounds of the wind chimes over the door as someone entered the shop. Putting down the book he had been reading, he headed for the front room, pausing on his way to check for the distinctive sensation of a nearby immortal. The feeling he was looking for wasn't there, but there was a slight tingling feeling at the base of his skull, unlike anything he had experienced in his 400 years.  
  
:_If I didn't know any better,_: he thought laughingly to himself, :_I'd say my Spider-Sense was tingling._:  
  
Entering the front of the shop, he saw there were two people. A dark-haired young man slowly rollerbladed through the shop, looking intently at each of the displays. The other person was leaning against the display case. She wore a short plaid skirt, a T-shirt, and rollerblades. She was leaning down, looking intently at something in the display case. Because of how she stood, her auburn hair fell, covering her face.   
  
Duncan walked silently, until he stood behind the counter, and said, "Excuse me, can I help you?"  
  
She looked up, and he was shocked by the delicacy of her features. Looking at her, one would think her a model, or if he had met her in his youth, a fine lady. The way she held herself however, told him that she had no need of the chivalrous protection of any knight.  
  
As she stood, her hair fell back from her face, and revealed upswept ears, from which dangled several silver earrings, most of them Celtic in design. She wore dark glasses, and Duncan wondered what colour her eyes were behind the smokey glass. He didn't have to wait long to find out however, as she removed them and looked him in the eyes.  
  
"I'd like to speak to Duncan MacLeod," she said, and her companion turned around sharply. Duncan recognised him immediately as one of the people at the lecture earlier that morning. Looking at her, he discovered that her eyes were a deep forest green. He also noticed that there was something odd about them, but he couldn't quite figure it out.   
  
"I'm Duncan," he said.  
  
"Oh," she said, "I was expecting someone older. Traditional names like Duncan aren't all that popular anymore." She might have gone on to say more, but her male companion tapped her on the shoulder, and said something to her in a language he didn't recognise, which was unusual in itself.  
  
Chapter Two: Old Hate  
  
"Robyn, your eyes." Override said in Atlantean, snapping her back to reality.  
  
"What about them?" she asked, reluctantly severing eye contact with Duncan, he was so...intriguing.  
  
"They're normal."  
  
"So?"  
  
"Normal for you, not for a human."  
  
"Oh," she gasped, and Override watched as they blurred and changed, the pupils becoming round like a human's.   
  
"How did you know?"  
  
Override said nothing, and nodded his head at the security camera in the corner above her head. He thought to himself that he had never seen her loose control of her shape like that, except once, when someone had almost killed a friend of hers. She had been so angry that she had shifted back into her natural shape.  
  
Robyn stuck her tongue out at her friend, and then turned back to the man behind the counter and took a better look. His dark hair was pulled back into a half-ponytail, and his white T-shirt did little to hide the firm chest underneath. Attempting to pull herself back together and keep her eyes from wandering ever downwards, she pointed at the jewellery case and asked, "How much would you like for the Celtic barrette?"  
  
"I'm sorry, the barrette isn't for sale miss, it's been in my family for almost four hundred years, and I couldn't bear to part with it."  
  
"Are you sure? I've never seen anything like it in any other collection. The artist must have died a rich man."  
  
He laughed sadly, as though at some private pain. "No, he was very poor, and... alone."  
  
"Wow, I cannot believe it..." Robyn's voice slowed to a halt, as Duncan's eyes grew distant and unfocused. Reaching slowly for the black trenchcoat that hung behind the counter, he walked towards the door. As he reached the door, Robyn and Override heard the voices of the Senshi, calling out:  
  
"**Moon Hiro Power**"  
  
"**Mercury Hiro Power**"  
  
"**Venus Hiro Power**"  
  
"**Jupiter Hiro Power**"  
  
"**Mars Hiro Power**"  
  
Override was the closest to the door, and dashed out, concerned primarily for Ami's safety. The Senshi would not transform in the middle of the street without reason. When he got outside, he saw the Senshi facing off against a tall pale man he recognised as one of Endymion's bodyguards from the time of the Moon Kingdom.   
  
"Kunsite," he breathed, and was almost pushed off his feet by the shopkeeper pushing his way through. Between the counter and the door, he had donned his trench, and had a hand hidden underneath the folds of the jacket. Override stepped forward, allowing the others to exit the store, but when Duncan made as if to join the fight, he yelled towards the girls, "INNOCENT BYSTANDER!"  
  
Turning, Mercury saw the man approaching the fight, and told Sailor Moon that they were going to have to take the fight to somewhere less crowded. Override started to follow, and then remembered the man. Turning to Robyn, he nodded towards Duncan, and said in Atlantean, "Keep him occupied."   
  
"Yes, my Liege," came the laughing but eager reply, and Override turned and followed after the Senshi, who were leading their opponent into an alleyway at the far end of the street.   
  
Duncan, still trying to follow, didn't make it very far however.

* * *

:_I've got to help those girls,_: Duncan thought to himself, :_they have no idea what they're dealing with_.: Setting out to follow them, he saw out of the corner of his eye, the woman that had been in his shop. She seemed to lose her balance, and she began to fall. :_No matter how interesting she is, I can't stop to help her, those other girls are in trouble._: He was turning to chase after them when he was hit from behind as the woman fell and grabbed at him for support.  
  
The two fell and landed in a painful heap on the sidewalk. Still trying to intervene in the fight, he tried to extricate himself, but discovered that the wheels of her rollerblades had gotten caught up in the hem of his jacket. Duncan realised that he had no idea which way the group of fighters had gone; the outcome was out of his control. Shaking his head, he turned to the woman beside him, and saw that she was bleeding from a small cut over her eye.  
  
Looking down quickly, he discovered that his katana was just visible under his jacket, and he quickly rearranged it as he stood. He managed to liberate his jacket from her unruly inline skates, and once he was back on his feet, he held out a hand to the woman to help her up.  
  
"Just a sec," she said, and began untying her skates. When she finally did take his hand, she stood barefoot, with the skates in one hand.  
  
"C'mon, you'd better get back in your store, or you'll lose everything to looters." She indicated the open door of his antique shop.

* * *

"_Kunsite!_" Sailor Moon yelled as the chase entered a deserted back lot, "_I don't know what your twisted plan is this time, but you won't get away with it Negatrash!_"  
  
"AAARGHHH!!!!" Kunsite screamed incoherently from his place atop a streetlight, as an energy boomerang shot from his hands. "_You won't stop me this time you stupid brats!_"   
  
Sailor Moon barely managed to dodge the attack before another followed in its wake heading, not for her this time, but for her friends. Sailor Jupiter dodged and rolled, coming up on one knee as O'Neil had taught her. Kunsite's next boomerang passed harmlessly over her head, and from her kneeling position she launched an attack of her own.  
  
Her **Jupiter Thunderclap Zap!** was joined by **Venus Love-Me Chain Encircle!** The two attacks began to twist and meld, becoming one, double-teaming Kunsite. He however, knew how the Senshi worked, and already had an energy shield up, protecting him from the barrage and absorbing the energy.   
  
An energy beam shot out from Kunsite's hands, as he turned the girl's own power back on them. They dodged out of the way, but Sailor Venus was hit from behind by one of the returning boomerangs. Her arm hanging almost useless at her side, Venus was out of the fight for a while.  
  
Mercury took over for her, and keyed up her computer glasses, trying to find a chink in Kunsite's shield. Unfortunately, there didn't seem to be one, but her glasses did pick up something. Running towards them full tilt, was Override in full armour. A message came up on her visor, 'Ami, all of you blast him at once. It might blow out his shield and give Sailor Moon a chance to dust him.'   
  
Changing the search parameters on her computer, she realised the message was right. All of the Senshi's powers together might cause Kunsite's shields to overload. Turning, Mercury saw that Mars had just finished a failed attack, and she yelled in English at her friends, hoping that their foe wouldn't understand.  
  
"All at once! It'll bring down his shield, and then we can dust him!"  
  
"1-2-3!"  
  
**Jupiter Thunderclap Zap!  
  
Mars Celestial Fire Surround!  
  
Venus Love-Me Chain Encircle!  
  
Shine Aqua Illusion!**  
  
The four Senshi, even the wounded Venus, managed to combine the full force of their power pouring it onto the dark sphere surrounding the smug nega-general. His smug expression was not to last long however, as the four attacks were absorbed by the shield. The shear amount of power caused the shield to heat up, and sweat poured from Kunsite's face, his eyes wide with fear and pain.  
  
The dark sphere erupted, causing energy to arc out from around Kunsite into the street-lamp he was standing on. The lamp exploded in a shower of glass and metal, and the arc shifted back to the now unprotected Kunsite. The absorbed power of the shield turned back on its captor in a magical feedback loop. He fell from his perch, landing heavily on his side.  
  
"_Now Sailor Moon!_" they all yelled, and sailor Moon pulled out her Moon Sceptre, preparing herself for the blast. "**Moon Sceptre Halation!**" she called, and blasted towards the fallen Kunsite. But the blast fell upon empty ground, for their fallen foe had taken their moment of preparation to disappear, running from the victorious Senshi.  
  
Chapter Three: It's a Date.  
  
  
The Senshi and Override, now back in their regular clothes, headed back towards the antique shop, looking for Robyn. Override was wondering how she had managed to keep Duncan from following; he'd seemed very determined to interfere. They found their way back to the street, their rollerblades running smoothly along the pavement. The Senshi along with Mamoru and Override, who hadn't even had to join the battle, entered the little antique shop and called Robyn's name.  
  
"In here!" a voice called out from the shop's back room. The group followed it into a small room crammed with antiques, from Egyptian death masks, to African headdresses. Peering around a sarcophagus, they found Robyn in an animated discussion with the shop's owner, who they all recognised as the teacher from their morning lecture as he gently put a Band-Aid on the cut on her forehead.  
  
"...I tell you he's ripping you off. There were a half a dozen fake Ming vases here this morning. Not to mention a whole bunch of suspiciously new antique pikes, and they're gone now...Minako, Rei, tell him Andrew's pulling a fast one."  
  
Rei and Minako looked at each other, and then at Robyn, "Pulling a fast one?" they said in unison.  
  
"Oh, I'm sorry, umm, he had some vases here this morning right?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"And they're gone now, right?"  
  
Rei walked back out into the front room and looked around. "Hei!" she called back.  
  
"But I didn't have any vases," Duncan said, sounding as though he'd gone over this before.  
  
"Okay," Robyn sounded exasperated, "look at your surveillance camera tape from today, and see if I'm telling the truth."  
  
"I will," he said.   
  
Makoto turned to Rei as she came back in the room, "_What a coincidence, that the teacher from our lecture should be the guy whose store you found. But ...wow...just look at him, isn't he absolutely gorgeous?_"  
  
Duncan turned and looked at Makoto. The side of his mouth quirked up, and he stared at her, as though trying to decide something. Evidently he made up his mind, because he bowed his head slightly and said, in Japanese, "_Thank-you_."  
  
The rest of the group had been a little irritated by Makoto's remark, it came so often, but the realisation that the man spoke Japanese caused her no small embarrassment. A bright flush started at the collar of her dress, and crept its way up until her entire face was a fiery red. Her friends, unable to contain themselves, began to laugh.  
  
"Well," Robyn said, interrupting, "you seem to be all right, so maybe we should leave."  
  
"Wait, aren't you going to introduce me to your friends? I recognise some of them, but not these two." Duncan pointed at Rei and Minako.  
  
Robyn looked confused, "Recognise them from where?"  
  
"My lecture this morning."  
  
"You're the medieval history lecturer at the university?"   
  
"Yes."  
  
"Figures," she said under her breath. "Well, Duncan, allow me to introduce you to Tsukino Usagi, and her boyfriend Chiba Mamoru, Mizuno Ami and Override..., as well as Hino Rei, Kino Makoto and Aino Minako."  
  
"Um," he looked at her as though expecting one more name.  
  
"Did you introduce yourself?" Override whispered, poking her playfully in the ribs.  
  
"Oh! Right. I'm Robyn, Robyn Goodfellow."  
  
As soon as he heard her name, he started to chuckle, and then laugh. The Senshi looked at each other, trying to figure out what he found so amusing.  
  
"I don't think it's that funny," Robyn said quietly.  
  
Finally Duncan settled down a little. "Did your parents realize they were naming you after a character in a Shakespeare play?"  
  
Robyn looked at Override and smiled, "I would assume not."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Long story," Robyn and Override said in unison.  
  
Robyn rose, and the group got ready to leave, filing towards the door.  
  
"Maybe we could... get together sometime?" Makoto said, looking boldly at Duncan as he got up to walk them out.  
  
Duncan either didn't hear, or didn't want to hear, the personal note in her voice, "Hey, maybe we could all go to a movie tomorrow night..." he looked towards Robyn.  
  
She peered at him over her sunglasses, one eyebrow raised, "Sure, what's playing?"  
  
Duncan picked up a newspaper and checked the movie ads while the others waited by the door, "Titanic...again, and John Carpenter's 'Escape From Atlantis.'"  
  
"Oh, gotta see that!" Robyn stifled laughter and continued, "What time's it start?"  
  
"We can watch it at 7:00, or 9:00. Which would you prefer?"  
  
"Um, the seven o'clock one I think," Usagi said. "We must return home the next morning, so we should make it an early night."  
  
"All right, the theatre is halfway between my place and your hotel, so how about we meet there around...6:30?"  
  
"Sounds like a plan," Robyn sounded like she was trying hard not to laugh about something. "Well guys, we should go. We have a lot of touristing to get in tomorrow." She turned back to Duncan as the others filed out the door. "Ciao."  
  
As she walked past Duncan towards the door, Robyn surprised herself by brushing against him. A spark of hope ran through her as he placed his hand on the small of her back and escorted her the rest of the way to the door.  
  
The group walked outside, heading for their hotel. Minako and Makoto were having a whispered conversation about Duncan's attributes. After a moment though, the two stopped whispering, and began teasing Ami about her four-day relationship with the enigmatic Override.  
  
Turning around, Override saw as Robyn looked cross-eyed at the Band-Aid on her forehead, and reached up to peel it off. The skin there was unblemished, and Override wondered again what Robyn had done to distract Mr. MacLeod. Not noticing Override looking at her, she looked over her shoulder towards Duncan's lit window. Sighing, she joined the others as they walked slowly back to their hotel. Day was cooling to evening around them, and that, combined with the sounds of the city, began to lull them to sleep.   
  
By the time they got to their hotel, everyone was ready for bed. They filed up to their rooms, collapsing, exhausted in their beds. All, that is, except Robyn and Override.

* * *

After a brief discussion, the two friends headed downstairs to the hotel's bar. Crossing over to an empty table, they began to play pool. It was obvious that Robyn's mind was elsewhere when Override won his fourth game in a row.  
  
"You really like him don't you?" Override startled Robyn out of her silent reverie.  
  
"Wha? Quat? Nani?" She looked at her friend. After all the time they'd spent together, she couldn't hide something that obvoius from him, "Yeah. I don't know why... but for some reason he reminds me of Juan."  
  
"Juan? Oh, that spanish guy you dated for a while?"  
  
"Yeah, Juan Ramirez. I-I I just really like this Duncan guy, and I think that we can trust him. I really think that I can trust him." Robyn's eyes sparkled as she looked up at her oldest friend. "And besides, he is sooooo gorgeous."  
  
"You always did go for the ones with the long hair." Override said as Robyn finally managed to sink a ball. Just then, two guys who had been playing badly a couple of tables away walked over.  
  
"Would you like to play a friendly game?" The first one looked as though someone had rearranged his face more than once.  
  
"We're not very good. You'd have to teach us the rules first." Override said, "We really just play for fun."  
  
"Oh, so do we. We aren't much good either, but we can teach you a few things, can't we Joe?"  
  
"Sure Larry."   
Robyn and Override looked at each other and shrugged, although if Joe and Larry had looked closely, they would have noticed that the expressions on the pair's faces were not friendly.  
  
"Sure," they said in unison, "teams? Two against two?"  
  
"Yeah, sure. How about a friendly wager? Five dollars a ball?"  
  
Override looked a little uncertain, "Well, I don't know..."  
  
"C'mon, it'll be ok. It's not that much." Robyn pleaded.  
  
"All right Robyn."  
  
The balls were racked, and the two pairs started to play. Larry and Joe began by playing very poorly. Even Override and Robyn's horrible attempts at pool were beating them. After about a half an hour, Joe managed to sink his team's first ball. The eight. They lost, and the total was they owed Robyn and Override $25, and $5 was owed to them.  
  
"Okay, here's twenty bucks. Want to make it $10 a ball? I need to make back my cash."  
  
"How about $20? Then you can make your money back even if you only sink one ball," Robyn said.  
  
"Ummm, let me talk to Larry for a minute, ok?"  
  
"Sure."  
  
The two men walked out of normal hearing range and began to discuss the prospect. Little did they realize that Robyn and Override both had better than average hearing.  
  
"What a flaky chick. That's some really fuzzy logic she's got going there." This was Joe talking.  
  
"Who cares. She's willing to jump the price to $20 a ball. And look at how bad they are. We can wipe the floor with them, no sweat."  
  
"It seems too easy though."  
  
"Don't worry about it. They're just a couple of teenagers with cash to burn. They'll never miss it."  
  
"All right Joe. I guess. Let's go for it before they change their minds."  
  
The two turned back to find their opponents had already racked the balls, and were ready to go.  
  
"So?" Robyn asked.  
  
"Sure. Let's go for it. I need that 20 bucks back or I can't get a cab home." Larry seemed depressed about his loss.  
  
The game began again, and Robyn and Override noticed that Larry and Joe's game had improved dramatically. Larry and Joe in turn noticed that no matter how unlikely Robyn's shot looked as she made it, by some bizarre fluke the ball always found it's way into the pocket she had indicated. Override executed his shots with amazing geometric prescision.  
  
Override made an amazing combination shot that ricocheted off of three sides of the table and sank into the corner pocket. Then it was Robyn's turn.  
  
"Hmmm, five ball, corner pocket." Larry was certain that she would never make it. The only other ball on the table was the eight and it was between the five and the pocket she had indicated. And then, when she aimed towards the side pocket instead, he could barely keep from laughing out loud. Larry watched the shot take place in his mind's eye. The five ball would go into the side pocket, followed by the cue ball. That would loose these cocky teens the game, and Larry and Joe would be fifty bucks in pocket.  
  
Larry's heart sank however as the girl Robyn used the corner pocket to rocket the five ball around the eight. It was really wierd, how the ball went into the side pocket, and then jumped out the other way sending the five careening around the eight and then into the corner pocket. Her partner then had a simple, clear shot and sank the eight easily.  
  
The girl walked up to him. "You owe me two hundred dollars Larry." She still looked and sounded like a flaky teenager, but there was something about her that Larry didn't like.  
  
"Hey lady. Gambling's illegal in this state, and I don't have $200 anyway."  
  
She stepped in real close, and started to act all helpless and sad. There wasn't even an inch of space between them and Larry knew what she was doing. Everyone else in the bar knew he was a shark, and she was making them think that she was trying to get out of giving him money. There were other girls that had offered him things other than money to pay off their debts, but somehow he figured sex was the last thing on her mind.  
  
The guy had stepped in real close to Joe, and just looked at him. That had been enough to stop him in his tracks.  
  
"You have a $400 Rolex, Larry. You could give me that instead. And as for gambling being illegal, you're the one who started the betting. And I don't think you're going to go calling the cops are you Larry?"  
  
Larry was frustrated and angry. The chick was right. He couldn't call the cops, they'd just laugh and say he got what was coming to them. It was time to be a man.  
  
Pulling his hand out, Larry was about to slap her when he felt an uncomfortable pressure somewhere south of his bellybutton. He looked down and saw a knife the size of the one that Aussie actor used. It was nestled firmly against the family jewels.  
  
"As a friend of mine so loves to say: Go ahead, make it legal Larry. Please."  
  
Larry slowly brought his arm back, and unclipped the Rolex he was wearing. "H-here you go, just don't..."  
  
"Flinch?" Larry looked at her face and saw the calm expression. That was even scarier than if she had been one of those man haters. This one wouldn't even flinch if he did hit her. "Being a shark isn't all it's cracked up to be Larry. One day you're gonna meet a killer whale, and they just loooove the taste of shark." She stepped back, and the knife just disappeared. Where had it come from anyway?  
  
"K," she turned back into the bubbly teenager she had been moments before, "Bye Larry, bye Joe. See ya."  
  
Override and Robyn headed back up the stairs to their floor. At the first landing, Robyn couldn't contain herself any longer. She collapsed in a heap, and laughed so hard that tears began to stream out her eyes.  
  
"You were a little over the top there, weren't you Robyn?" Override was laughing too, but not as hard as Robyn. He at least was still standing.  
  
"I know, but I just couldn't help myself." Robyn was trying desperately to choke back tears. "He made it soooo easy. And he did deserve it."  
  
"Yeah but... I can see all that 'make it legal stuff,' that's Tal's favorite line, but where on earth did you come up with all that killer whale stuff?"  
  
"I have no idea." Robyn finally got ahold of herself, and the pair headed back up the stairs. "I've gotta get some sleep amigo. I'll see you in the morning."  
  
"G'night."   
  
Chapter Four: Love and Rollercoasters.   
  
Robyn woke groggily to the sound of Override pounding on her hotel-room door. Inching her way to the side of the double bed she had been given, she rolled off the side, grabbing her sunglasses from the bedside table as she stood. The pounding continued as she made her way to the door, muttering curses in Atlantean at the man on the other side of the door. Wrenching the door open, she glared at Override through her sunglasses, growling slightly.  
  
"What are you doing getting me up at this decidedly nasty hour of the morning?"   
  
"Uh, Robyn... it's 10 o'clock in the morning."  
  
"What!? You mean 10 o'clock comes twice a day?! Why didn't someone tell me?!" Robyn placed her hand dramatically on her forehead, knowing full well, that the scouts were just around the corner.   
  
"Geeze Robyn, cut it out and get ready would ya? You're the one with the driver's licence around here."  
  
"Oh, all right." She stuck her tongue out at him as she closed the door.

* * *

"All right guys, she knew you were there the whole time you know." Override called out to the girls hidden right around the corner from Robyn's hotel room. "She'll just be a sec."  
  
Ami walked around the door and took Override's hand, "Was she swearing at you?"  
  
Override laughed, "Yeah, she called me a 'Large green-spotted satanic purple dinosaur from the nine hells'."  
  
"Okay..." she was just about to ask what that meant, when Robyn walked out of her room, and shut the door. Robyn was dressed in a plain blue T-shirt, and a pair of jeans that seemed to have been caught between two rival gangs during a gunfight. Turning, she could see Mamoru and the girls staring at her pants.  
  
"What?! It's not like we're going anywhere fancy, and they're comfortable."  
  
She looked around at the others, and noticed that they had also adopted the more casual American look. Ami had cut-offs and a T-shirt that said, 'Go ahead, make my day.' Holding her hand, Override was dressed in a pair of jeans and a shirt that said 'Earth Acadamy.' Rei was wearing a halter top and spandex pants, Makoto and Minako wore miniskirts and tank tops, Usagi had on a bikini top and shorts and Mamoru was wearing (to the obvious glee of Usagi) a muscle shirt and jeans.  
  
The group headed down the hall, stopping only long enough for Robyn to grab a can of 7UP from a vending machine in the lobby.  
  
"Lemme guess, you guys ate already, and that's the only reason I was allowed as much sleep time as I got."  
  
Override stared at her impassively from behind his sunglasses.  
  
"Okay, okay! Let's go." Mumbling to herself about 'frigging morning people', Robyn took off for the van.

* * *

After a brief argument, the group decided to go to a small amusement park across town from their hotel. Arriving at 'FunLand: the Silliest Place on Earth' they tried to find rides that everyone could agree on.  
  
The two couples in the group, predictably wanted to check out the Tunnel of Luv, while Rei, Makoto and Minako waited to take the Triple Puke-Loop roller coaster, Robyn couldn't care less either way.  
  
The two groups decided to take the roller coaster first, and then while the couples took the tunnel ride, Robyn would go with the others and find something else to do.  
  
Usagi and Minako both lost their breakfasts after the ride, and the others had a good laugh about it. Mamoru, Usagi, Override and Ami got on the swan-boat-thingy -one pair to each boat of course- and Rei was about to ask the attendant how long the ride lasted, when Robyn pulled her away.  
  
"Hey, why'd you do that? I wanted to know when to come back for them."  
  
Robyn laughed, "It doesn't matter how long that guy thinks they'll be Rei. Override can make that ride last as long as he wants it to, and with Ami there, I have a feeling he'll want it to last a looooong time. They'll find us when the repair people finally manage to get the swan-boats unstuck. Betcha five bucks it's at least two hours before we see any of them."  
  
"We'll take that bet," Rei said, looking at her fellow Senshi.

* * *

The four girls went off, and tried to have a good time, but they were all thinking about other things. The Senshi were thinking about Kunsite. They knew they had killed him that night, when they had banished Queen Beryl back to the Negaverse. How could he be back? For Robyn however, the nega-general was the last thing on her mind. Her mind was definitely not on work. She was thinking about gentle hands applying a bandage carefully, as if she were as fragile as a china-doll.  
  
A sigh managed to escape, and the Senshi began to giggle and poke each other in the ribs. They knew exactly what she was thinking about, or rather who.   
  
They wandered the park, loosing money at the dart games and ring tosses, most of them that is. Robyn was having an uncanny streak of luck, popping every balloon she tossed a dart at, and basically winning everything she tried. She ended up giving all of her stuffed fuzzy prizes to the Senshi; she already had more stuffed carnival-type prizes than she knew what to do with.  
  
Two hours later, Minako, Makoto and Rei were forking over their pocket change as the two couples strode towards them.  
  
"What's this all about?" Usagi was curious.  
  
"I bet them that the Tunnel of Luv ride would keep you guys occupied for at least two hours." Robyn grinned.  
  
"A word of advice ladies," Override was grinning, "never make a bet with anyone who can actually say Lady Luck is part of their family tree."  
  
"What?!" The Senshi were confused, "You mean she's not... normal?"  
  
"Robyn? Normal?" Override doubled over with laughter, shaking so hard he could barely breathe. When he finally got his breath back, all he could say was, "Robyn wouldn't know normal if it bit her."  
  
The group wandered around the carnival, the two guys spending most of their money trying to win stuffed animals for their girlfriends. As the afternoon wore on, Override noticed Robyn's strange behaviour, and took her aside to ask her what was going on.  
  
"We've been friends a long time Robyn, you can tell me what it is."  
  
"Yeah, okay. It's that guy Duncan... there's just something about him, I can't help but notice him."  
  
Override smiled, he was happy to see her finally fall for someone; it had been a long time. "It's about damn time Robyn. you haven't been like this since that Spanish guy in the 1300's."  
  
Robyn stuck her tongue out at him, and that distracted him long enough for Ami to sneak up, and tickle him from behind. He jumped, startled, and began to laugh. "I thought you were supposed to guard my back," he accused Robyn.  
  
"Only from people trying to hurt you, not tickle you."

* * *

The group walked to the van, reminiscing about their soon-to-be-over trip to America. The Senshi were sad that the pair would not be joining them in Japan, but none sadder than Override's beloved Mizuno Ami. Putting on a brave face, she tried not to let him see her pain, but he noticed, and made a decision then and there.  
  
By the time they got back to the hotel, it was already six, and they only paused long enough to dump their carnival prizes in their rooms, grab jackets, and race back to the van. The movie didn't seem to be too popular, because only a few people had seats, and the group stood outside the movie theatre waiting for Duncan to arrive.  
  
"He uh... he probably had to close up the store," Robyn seemed uncertain, and fidgeted worriedly.   
  
The rest of the group was also growing fidgety, until Makoto remarked, "What's with all the electricity?"  
  
Her question confused everyone, until Ami pulled out her computer, and began to analyse electricity levels in the air.  
  
"There is a huge static charge building here. I have no idea what could be causing it."  
  
"Does it have a center?" Override watched as Ami tried to locate the center of the electrical build-up. The others were too jumpy to pay much attention to anything, until a man standing near Rei shouted. His cigarette lighter burst into a ball of flames as he dropped it, grasping his injured hand. Rei became entranced by the ball of fire, just as she had on the beach days ago. This time though, there were no strange voices, just Rei shouting, "Duncan's in trouble, at the shop... and it's Kunsite." at the same instant that Override and Ami said, "The antique shop."  
  
No sooner had she said it, than eight people were running down the street, headed for the store, Robyn in the lead, and outdistancing them all.  
  
Chapter Five: Showdown.   
_Earlier that afternoon._  
  
Opening the old wardrobe he used as an entertainment center, Duncan placed the videocassette in the VCR, wondering why Andrew would want to rip him off, and why the young woman would care.  
  
:_Don't think about her_.: He thought to himself, :_She's just passing through, she said so herself. And it would be cradle robbing in the extreme. She can't be any older than twenty_.: :_Yeah_,: another part of him thought, :_but practically everyone I go out with is younger than me_.:  
  
The tape finished rewinding, and Duncan hit 'play' on the remote-control, trying to decide who he believed more, a man who had been working for him for months, or a girl he had met not twenty-four hours ago. What he believed however, soon became a moot point, as the evidence of the black and white videotape unfolded before his eyes.  
  
Bold as brass, Andrew carefully unpacked a large box, unwrapping bundles of tissue paper to reveal several rather ugly vases. Most were deposited within easy reach under the counter, while a few were put in strategic points around the shop.  
  
Angry, Duncan shut off the tape. Grabbing his trenchcoat, he automatically checked to be sure that his katana was well hidden beneath it. He went to his car, slamming doors on the way, ready to confront Andrew with the videotape, and fire him immediately.  
  
Duncan's classic black Thunderbird pulled into his private parking space next to the shop, and he stormed in the front door silently. The only sound Andrew heard was the windchimes ringing above the door. Turning, the young man started as he saw Duncan, but regained his composure quickly.  
  
"Hiya boss," he said cheerily, his valley accent thick, and probably an affectation. "How's things?" Even a blind man could have seen the anger burning in Duncan's eyes.  
  
"Get out." Duncan glared at him. "Leave now and never come back." With each word he took a step towards his confused employee.  
  
"W-w-w-wha...?"  
  
"I found out about the fakes. People have started to complain about your selling techniques." And with that, he took the blond youth by the collar and, opening the door with his free hand, tossed him forcefully out of the shop. The fake vases followed shortly.  
  
Duncan stood just outside the shop door, filled with righteous indignation, and watched as a pair of street kids started to throw mud at the fallen thief. Thrown mud was quickly followed by thrown insults, as the children began calling him names, and laughing at him for falling in the mud.  
  
The children's laughter however was the last straw.  
  
Duncan watched in amazement as Andrew's platinum-blond hair began to float. His face aged, and his clothes were replaced by an impeccable uniform worn by no army Duncan had ever seen, purple, with ice green trim, and a long flowing cape. His eyes lost their youthful innocence, and he became a hardened warrior. His amazing change was quickly followed by a feeling Duncan knew well. Slowly, the sensation of a nearby immortal surrounded 'Andrew' and Duncan grew wary.  
  
"How dare you lay your hands upon me foolish human. I am the great General Kunsite, of the army of Her Dark Majesty Queen Beryl of the Nega-verse, and you will die for your insults, but first, these impudent children."   
  
Turning, he prepared to launch something at the youngsters, only to see Duncan leap in its path, taking the blast full force in the chest. The children ran as the General gasped at his new enemy's actions.  
  
"This human is even stupider than I thought, giving his life for," he spat the word, "_children_. He's as bad as those annoying Senshi. Well, at least I won't have to deal with him." Kunsite turned to leave.  
  
"Don't-Bet-On-That." A voice rasped from behind him.  
  
Spinning to face his fallen enemy, the Nega-General watched as Duncan lurched to his feet, throwing his trenchcoat to the sidewalk, and revealing the katana that had remained hidden until now. He staggered towards Kunsite, each step becoming surer, steadier, than the last. Finally, he stood only a few feet from the surprised General.  
  
"I am Duncan MacLeod of the Clan MacLeod," he said softly.  
  
Kunsite replied in kind, recognising this as some kind of ritual challenge, "I am Kunsite, first General of the Dark Army of Her Dark Majesty the great Queen Beryl."  
  
With that, the two squared off.  
  
The first energy boomerang caught Duncan entirely by surprise. For a man who had lived to see four hundred years, he had witnessed precious little true magic, and nothing he had recognised as such. He only just managed to parry it with his katana, allowing the metal blade of his sword to absorb most of the heat and energy. The energy, he was used to; an immortal battle gave off much power, which tended to flow from sword to sword.  
  
The fight however was grossly mismatched. Kunsite knew immediately that this man would best him with a sword, and stuck to his personal weapon, the glowing blue energy boomerangs that had served him so well in the past. They gave Duncan no way to get in close to his opponent, and Duncan soon found himself backed into the empty lot behind his shop. Somehow, in attempting to maneuver close enough to the man for a sword to be useful, the two men had made their way down an alley, and behind the antique store.   
  
Duncan was surrounded by Kunsite's weapons, and he began to falter. Even an immortal can only take so much before his body needs to shut down and heal itself. He fell to his knees, his clothing ripped into shreds, his body bleeding from uncountable small wounds.

* * *

Quickly outdistancing the others, Robyn ran full tilt towards Duncan's store. Grinding to a halt in front of the little shop, she discovered no one nearby. She heard a sound coming from somewhere behind, and dashed around the side of the building.  
  
She arrived just in time to witness Kunsite's victory. A last energy bolt whipped across Duncan's chest. Standing behind Duncan, Robyn couldn't see how bad the wound was, but she could see the others covering his body, and knew that even if she could get him to a hospital now, it would be too late. It seemed as though he fell in slow motion; already on his knees, Duncan didn't have too far to fall, but the indignity of it sent Robyn into an almost inarticulate rage.  
  
She glared at Kunsite, white-hot rage building within her.  
  
"Have you come to die as well?" the gloating General asked laughingly.  
  
"You. Will. Die. For. This." She bit off each word, as though wishing to do the same to Kunsite's jugular.  
  
She started to run towards him, picking up speed as she went, ignoring the energy boomerangs he was tossing mercilessly in her direction. As Override and the Senshi rounded the corner, Robyn made it close enough to deliver a claw-like slash to the General's face before he was able to react.  
  
Chapter Six: Rise Fallen Comrades  
  
  
Duncan awoke in time to see the tragic end of Robyn's foolhardy rush. As her friends rounded the corner, Kunsite howled with pain and rage at the indignity her action caused him. Discipline forgotten, he blasted Robyn with a single ball of concentrated energy, throwing her towards the back wall of the antique shop.   
  
Eyes watering, Duncan watched as she hit the cinderblock wall head-first with a heart wrenching 'SNAP'. Glancing where she landed, he saw her graceful neck bent at an impossible angle. She was dead of a broken neck, and Duncan's heart broke silently over a woman he had met once.  
  
Her friend, the one named Override, glanced at his fallen friend, then at Duncan who stood covered in blood, and shook his head. The rest of the group took strange poses, and started to yell. All except for the two young men.  
  
"**Moon Hiro Power**"  
  
"**Mercury Hiro Power**"  
  
"**Venus Hiro Power**"  
  
"**Jupiter Hiro Power**"  
  
"**Mars Hiro Power**"  
  
Each of the five girls began to glow with an unnatural light, spinning a foot above the ground. Duncan watched aghast as they began to transform in a manner similar, albeit flashier, than Andrew/Kunsite had not long ago.  
  
Street clothes were replaced by centurion-style armour, decked with coloured leather. Each girl had her own personal colour scheme: the blonde Usagi: Pink; the likewise blonde Minako: Yellow and Orange; the brunette Makoto: green and pink; the black-haired Rei: red and purple; and the last girl Ami: shades of blue.  
  
The young man Mamoru, seemed to pull a blooming rose from nowhere, and appeared wearing a formal tuxedo with cape, top-hat and tails a moment later. Override stayed the way he was, and made his way over to the exhausted Scotsman.  
  
There seemed to be a standoff for some reason, and the girls stood across the lot from Kunsite, yelling insults and curses in Japanese. Kunsite's seemed to consist of "Murderers," and "Cry-babies," while the girls' almost always had "nega" tacked onto the beginning.  
  
Magic quickly followed insults, as the girls tossed glowing orbs at the man, who merely shrugged off the blasts of fire, ice, lightning, light, and what seemed to be sugar candy at him. The man in the tux tossed blooming roses into the fray, only to have those too deflected. Duncan almost laughed at the thought of throwing flowers at an enemy, until he saw one sink two inches into a block of solid concrete behind the laughing Kunsite.  
  
So absorbed was he by the strange sight in front of him, Duncan forgot about the young man walking towards him until he was standing at Duncan's shoulder.  
  
"So how do we kill him?" Override asked simply.  
  
"I'm not sure I understand," Duncan was tired, and not thinking too well.  
  
"You obviously know something. I think you're too smart to take on someone like this unless you have some knowledge of how to defeat him."  
  
"She's dead," Duncan walked over to where Robyn lay dead, "I didn't even get to know her...".  
  
"Forget about it! We're in the middle of a war zone, and I think you know a way to stop this man from destroying the world!" Override grabbed Duncan by the front of his much-torn shirt, shaking him out of his melancholy.  
  
Duncan looked into Override's sincere brown eyes as they peered at him over a pair of sunglasses. "The entire world?"  
  
"Yes, MacLeod, the world. He's been trying to destroy it for centuries...millennia. Somehow he can't be killed, and we need to know why!"  
  
Looking back down at Robyn, Duncan strengthened his resolve. "Cut off his head. That's the only way to do it. But I can't get close enough to do it. With those weapons of his, no one can."  
  
"Just watch," Override turned back to the standoff and yelled, "**Cut off his head!**"  
  
The girls seemed confused until Override yelled in perfect Japanese, "_Sailor Moon! Your tiara! Throw your tiara at his neck!_"  
  
"**Moon Tiara Magic!!!**"  
  
Spellbound, the Scotsman watched as the one with the long pigtails removed the simple tiara from her brow, and _changed it somehow_, until it seemed to be shaped like a Frisbee. Pulling her arm back, she threw it at the laughing man on the other side of the lot.  
  
"After all the things I've survived, you think I'll be hurt by your girly discus?" Kunsite was incredulous, and didn't even bother to block the girl's missile.  
  
Kunsite's eyes went wide with surprise as the razor sharp edge of the tiara sliced through his neck like a hot knife through butter. He stood, mouth agape as blue light began to seep from the wound, and Duncan heard as the evil man quietly whispered, "Zoicite, my love, I'm coming to you."  
  
Duncan stepped forward, knowing that he must accept the Quickening. The remaining friends gathered around him, wondering what he was doing, and the brunette stepped between him and the body.  
  
"Get out of the way," he hissed at her, concerned for her safety, but by then it was too late.  
  
Kunsite's body rose up off of the ground, bolts of lightening surrounding it, and making their way towards Duncan, and blowing their way through Jupiter in their attempt to get to him. Duncan jumped towards her, trying to get her out of harm's way. The bolt hit her square in the back and her eyes glazed over. Covering the distance between them in a single stride, she placed her hands on his shoulders, and transferred the energy to him.  
  
"This belongs to you MacLeod," a kind, laughing masculine voice that wasn't Jupiter's issued from her mouth, "Use it wisely Highlander, and remember... It's a kind of Magic." The voice was fading away, but Duncan distinctly heard, "Don't let her go MacLeod. She's worth the trouble."  
  
Override gaped at the voice, but stood riveted to the spot.  
  
The Quickening continued uneventfully, or, as uneventfully as any Quickening. Windows exploded from the power surging up through Duncan's body, cans and bottles flew into the air and shattered, volatile substances burst into flames. Duncan's body was sheathed in power. His wounds disappeared before the startled eyes of the Senshi, and as the energy disappeared, he stood refreshed and whole.  
  
"How?" He looked dazedly at Sailor Jupiter. "It should have killed you!"  
  
Override looked at him, "A girl with a lightening rod strapped to her forhead is going to be killed by lightening?"  
  
Well, almost whole. He walked slowly over to the fallen Robyn, dropping to his knees at her side. She looked so peaceful, that, except for the strange angle of her neck, she could be sleeping. Duncan glanced up at her friend Override. "I didn't even get to tell her she was right about Andrew."  
  
Looking back down, he gently curled a whisp of her hair around her ear as he had seen her do at the store the day before. Then, unable to restrain himself, he leaned in, and brushed his lips against hers, whispering Shakespeare's famous line, "May flights of angels wing thee to thy rest."  
  
A hand slid up the back of his neck and Duncan, startled, tried to pull away only to be held back as a voice whispered in his ear, "Who needs rest?"  
  
The hand pulled him back to her lips, and he found them no longer cold and dead, but warm and very much alive. The kiss was long and wonderful, and they found themselves locked in eternity, unable to break away.  
  
"Ahem," Override discretely coughed, gaining their attention.  
  
The pair reluctantly broke off contact, and Duncan looked at Robyn, amazed. Staring deeply into her eyes, he finally realised what about them had been bothering him: they were slitted like a cat's!  
  
"W-w-w-what the..."

* * *

:_Okay... I thought he was dead. Guess I was wrong_.: Robyn had to shake off the surprise of the recent events.  
  
"What'd I miss boss?" she said turning to Override.  
  
"No time. We've gotta go, now."  
  
"Something on the Police band?" she asked, noticing that his head was tilted as though he was listening to something only he could hear. Which was exactly what he was doing.  
  
"Yeah."  
  
Override turned to Duncan, laughing at the surprised look on his face. "Unless you have some way of explaining this to the cops, we'd better get outa here."  
  
As Override discussed incinerating the body with Sailor Mars, Duncan turned back to Robyn, all business. "I'm going to stick out with my shirt like this. Could I..." he pointed to the shirt tied around her waist.  
  
"Um, yeah. It might be a little small..." she handed it to him.  
  
"It's just right," he said. In fact, it was just a touch too small Override noticed, and looked at Robyn who appeared to have **really** noticed. Breaking her glance away, Robyn turned to Override and said, "I just had the weirdest dream, I thought I heard Juan. Man, I haven't thought about him in years."  
  
Override looked at her strangely, "You mean that Spanish metallurgist guy?"  
  
"Yeah?" Robyn was confused.  
  
"He was just here. Well... his voice was. He was using Makoto to speak to Duncan here. Called him the 'Highlander.'"  
  
"Are we talking about the same Juan? You mean Juan Sanchez Villa Lobos Ramirez?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
Now it was Duncan's turn to look confused, "You knew Ramirez?? But..."  
  
"Look," Override said, "we don't have time for this. Let's just get out of here."  
  
With everyone back in their street clothes, they jogged back towards the movie theatre where they had left their van. The night had become dark, turning the light from the streetlamps into little pools of sanctuary from the stygian blackness. As the others walked on a little ways ahead, Robyn stopped, just outside of the circle of light, kneeling down to pick up a quarter lying on the street. Duncan had stopped just behind her, in the light.  
  
Robyn heard someone walk up and stop, and she turned, looking back to where Duncan stood. There was a short, nervous man in a blue trench coat, with a .32 calibre handgun pointed at Duncan.   
  
"What's this all about? Put down the gun," Duncan said to the little man.  
  
"No! I have a d-d-duty," he stuttered back, and without another word, pulled the trigger.  
  
"Nooo! ?olus, help!" Robyn yelled at her companion. Rushing back to the fallen shopkeeper, she knelt, placing her fingers against his neck, searching for a pulse.  
  
Nothing.  
  
The man with the gun was shaking, Robyn could tell he was nervous. She stood up beside the body of her dead companion, a man she had just recently learned to love. Something she hadn't been able to do in years.  
  
"What now? Do you shoot me too shithead? You didn't even ask him for his wallet. You...just...shot...him." Her voice grew colder with every word.  
  
"If I have to. G-get out of my way, or I will shoot you."  
  
"Go ahead buddy."  
  
Time seemed to slow, and she watched impassively as his finger slowly pulled the trigger of the short pistol he was carrying. The sound of the shot echoed off of the brick walls of the building behind them. Robyn jerked back as though she had been punched, but remained on her feet. Then, she took a step towards him, and he watched as the bloodless wound in her chest closed, leaving unmarred skin.   
  
His gun clattered to the cement, smoke still streaming from the barrel, and he pulled out a fire axe from its hiding place beneath his jacket. Swinging it high, he stepped towards the body.   
  
"I have to finish it! I'll get you too you freak!" He yelled at Robyn.  
  
"Oh no you don't," she said, her voice dripping with cold anger. "You've already killed him, what's cutting him up going to do, hmmm?"  
  
"I h-h-have to finish it, and I won't let you stop me," he began to step forward again, only to be stopped by an arm, snaking around his neck, followed by a voice from the darkness.  
  
"I'm sorry, but I can't let you do that."  
  
"Thank-you Override," she said, as he stepped into the lighted area. Stepping towards the now captive man, she grabbed the axe from his unresponsive hands, and placed it against his throat.   
  
"Why?" She spoke that one word with almost no emotion, and the man saw his own death in her eyes.  
  
"I-I-I had t-t-to! H-h-he's an ab-bomination. He's a spawn of S-S-Satan, sent to destroy us!!!" He was becoming hysterical.  
  
"I'm going to skin you alive. No, I'm going to eviscerate you. No, I'm going to defenestrate you." She looked around the darkened street. "Damn, no windows. I'm...I'm...I'm...arghhhh!! Override?"  
  
"Don't look at me."  
  
Robyn looked at the assembled Senshi, and shook her head. They watched as she reached her hand out, as though grabbing something.  
  
"Look Rei, her hand disappeared," Minako pointed, whispering.  
  
Robyn's hand jerked back, and at the end was a young man, with what looked like a Nintendo control pad in his hands. The controller cord looked as though it was still attached to something, but it snaked off, only to vanish into thin air. The man jerked, looking around wildly, until his eyes rested on Robyn.  
  
"Oh, it's you." He assumed a business-like air. "What can I do for you?"  
  
"What is the meanest thing I can do to this man?" She turned him so that he was facing the man Override held captive.  
  
"What'd he do to get you pissed off Interpid Leader?"  
  
"He ruined my best prospect in centuries," she said, pointing at Duncan's prone corpse.  
  
"Ahhh, okay... Fillet him with a two-by-four."  
  
"Thank-you Talon, you've been a big help," she pushed him back to where he had appeared from, and he vanished just as readily.  
  
Robyn looked around the dark street, searching for something.   
  
"Damn, no two-by-fours, not even a one-by-four. Arghhhh!"  
  
A piece of wood dropped from nowhere, clattering noisily to the pavement.  
  
"Thanx!" Robyn said to the air.  
  
"You're wel-welcome-come."  
  
Picking up the piece of lumber, she swung it back behind her head, as though readying herself to hit a baseball.  
  
"Four," she said, very quietly, and began to swing...  
  
Only to discover that someone had grabbed hold of the other end of her improvised bat. She watched as the eyes of the Senshi standing behind Override grew round, and she turned.  
  
"I think I owe him more than you," said Duncan.  
  
Robyn just stood there, one eyebrow raised, in the classic Spock pose. Override reached a foot around his captive and kicked her in the back, "Robyn," he tried to get her attention.  
  
"Hmmmm?" she didn't turn.  
  
"Robyn look at me," he kicked her again.  
  
"What is it?"  
  
"There's a hole in your shirt,"  
  
"Argh! Where is my head today? First my eyes, then my shirt. Geeze I must be getting senile in my old age." She looked at Override as the hole in her T-shirt dwindled and vanished, a twinkle in her eye.  
  
"Oh, that's funny Robyn, very funny,"  
  
Robyn turned back to Duncan, releasing the other end of the two-by-four nonchalantly and stepping out of the way. Standing back she looked Duncan up and down, raised her eyebrow again and said, "Fascinating,"  
  
Throughout the conversation the little man had been fairly still, but as Duncan approached, he started to squirm and twitch, trying to get away. He began to scream incoherently about Satan and his undead minions.  
  
Duncan held the lumber loosely in one hand, reaching towards the man with the other. The man began to squirm more violently, but Override's arm held him fast. Duncan's arm snaked out, quick as thought, grabbing the frightened man's left arm. The others looked on, puzzled, as he pushed up the man's sleeve to expose his wrist.   
  
"I thought so," Duncan mumbled to himself, as Robyn and the others peered at the abstract blue tattoo fading on the man's arm.  
  
"And what, exactly, does that mean?" Override asked.  
  
"Can we possibly talk about this later?" Duncan pleaded, "I don't really want to talk about this here."  
  
"Fine," Robyn was getting impatient, "but what are we going to do about this looser? I still don't like him, and I still want to defenestrate him."  
  
"Defenestrate?"  
  
"Throw him out a window. Now, what are we going to do with him?"  
  
"We could take him to the police..." Mamoru said.  
  
"And tell them what?" Robyn seemed a bit exasperated, "That this man shot Duncan, then tried to cut him up with a fire axe, but failed because Duncan didn't feel like staying dead?"  
  
"Well, we could say he tried to steal... no, what is the word?"  
  
"Mug?"  
  
"Yes, that this man tried to mug us, and his gun went off. Then, we grabbed him."  
  
"Might work, and when he starts up on the undead spawn of Satan stuff, they'll lock him up in a nice padded room, with an 'I Luv Me Jacket'. Perfect."  
  
"I Luv Me Jacket?" Duncan was looking confused, probably because this group took his not dying, twice, as no big deal.  
  
"A straightjacket."   
  
"Ah, I see..."  
  
"C'mon buddy," Override said, shifting his grip so he held one of the man's arms, as Robyn stepped forward and took the other, "Go directly to Jail. Do not pass Go, do not collect $200."

* * *

They dropped the little man, whose named turned out to be Christoph something, at the nearest police station. Just as they had predicted, he couldn't keep a secret. As soon as the police questioned him about the incident, he blurted out the truth, a little slanted, but the truth nonetheless. The police, being reasonable men, thought he was raving.  
  
"He's the spawn of Satan!!!!! He didn't die!! He'll take over the world!! She didn't either!! I have to kill the evil ones, I have to!"  
  
"Who told you to kill them Christoph?" The officer's voice was calm and reasonable.  
  
"It's God's orders!! The undead ones must be purged!"  
  
The officer looked at Duncan and Robyn. "Do you want to press charges?"  
  
"Yeah," Robyn was furious, "attempted murder, and assault. He tried to shoot both of us, without even demanding our money first. It's just lucky for us he missed."  
  
"Okay," the officer turned, and motioned the large, plainclothes officer over, "book 'im for me would ya Dave-o?"   
  
"Yeah, sure." He lead Christoph off, discussing padded walls, and straightjackets.  
  
After leaving the station, they drove to 'Desalvo Dojo', and everyone piled up the stairs into the one room loft Duncan owned on the top floor. Settling onto whatever furniture they could find, the eight friends looked expectantly at Duncan, waiting patiently for an explanation.  
  
"Well, isn't anybody going to ask?"  
  
"No, that would be prying. If you don't want to tell us, that's fine..."  
  
Duncan looked at the assembled group, moving from one face to another.  
  
Robyn was curled up on the end of the couch opposite Override and Ami. Her eyes hidden behind her glasses, she looked as though she was almost asleep, reminding him of a cat that couldn't care one way or another what you did next.  
  
Usagi, Minako and Makoto were all leaning towards him, curious and not afraid to show it. The others, Rei, Ami, Override and Mamoru also seemed curious, but content to let him decline to answer if he chose.  
  
"Umm," Duncan looked around nervously, "he missed?" It sounded lame, even to him.  
  
Robyn's eyes closed completely as she struggled to suppress laughter, her sides heaving. When she regained control, she looked him straight in the eye, "If you say so."  
  
"I didn't think that would work." he mumbled to himself.  
  
"So?" Makoto leaned in closer, and Duncan began his tale.  
  
"I am Duncan MacLeod of the Clan MacLeod. I was born in the year 1592 in the Scottish village of Glenfinnan, on the shores of Loch Shiel," his accent grew deeper, becoming a true Scottish brogue as they listened, "and I cannot die."  
  
"Duhhhhh, that's kinda obvious," Robyn whispered, almost to herself.  
  
"When I was young, my clan went to war, and I went with them. I was wounded fatally, my parents mourned as I died in agony from a sword wound to the guts. My father disowned me the next morning when I woke up without a scratch on me."  
  
Duncan wondered why he trusted them so easily, "Robyn, when that guy said you wouldn't die either, he was raving... right?"  
  
Robyn looked at Override, and she seemed to be waiting for some signal from him. Obviously she found it, because she turned back to Duncan and said, "Of course. He's a lunatic, he shot at me, but he missed. He must've thought he hit me when I stumbled. Lemme put it this way: there's no hole in my shirt. So," with a childish grin she changed the subject, "since you're telling us at least some of this, what was it with that guy, and the tattoo?"  
  
"Well, that tattoo means that he's a member of a group called the Watchers. Their 'duty' is to keep track of immortals, and record our lives. They aren't supposed to interfere, but a couple years ago a faction split off, having decided that all immortals are evil, and have to be destroyed. He tried to kill me a few times, he did kill a few of my friends, and I thought the whole faction had just broken up after he died. Guess I was wrong.   
  
"What was it with this guy Kunsite anyway? Why were you so determined to deal with him yourselves?"  
  
The Japanese passed a look around, and finally Ami spoke. "He's harmed a lot of people, even when targeting us specifically. He cares... I mean cared nothing about letting innocent bystanders get hurt, and has--had no morals at all."  
  
That settled it for Duncan. He was glad he had helped these people.  
  
"Now, back to the subject at hand," he said looking Robyn straight in the eye, "I know you had a broken neck, I saw you slam head first into a brick wall, and then I took your pulse. You...Were...Dead. Then you were alive again. And I didn't sense you, so I know you're not immortal..."  
  
She looked at Override again, and this time Duncan saw him nod. "I am Robyn of the house of Goodfellow. Formerly the personal bodyguard of their Royal Highnesses King Oberon and Queen Titania of Avalon."  
  
"Avalon? Avalon is just a fairy tale." Duncan interrupted.  
  
"Guess that makes me a fairy huh? Well, anyway," she said with a look that said 'Don't interrupt again.' she continued. "Lately I am a retainer of his Majesty the Crown Prince of Atlantis." Duncan made to refute this as well, then thought the better of it. "?olus 'Override' Endymionson. I am not immortal the way you understand it. I am simply very difficult to kill. The only reason I even bother to look dead is because there are some times when you have to make bystanders -like the cops- think you're dead." Robyn laughed at his expression, "You remember earlier when you asked if my parents realised they were naming me after a famous character out of Shakespeare?" Duncan nodded, "Well, they weren't. I wasn't named after Puck, he was named after me." Her eyes twinkled.  
  
"But that would make you... You said something earlier about Ramirez. He's been dead about four hundred and fifty years now. You can't possibly be that old."  
  
"Juan Sanchez Villa Lobos Ramirez was a very good...friend of mine. For a few weeks in the 1540's."  
  
"How old are you?" Duncan was shocked.  
  
"That is a very rude thing to ask a Lady!" she acted outraged.  
  
Now it was Duncan's eyes twinkling, "Are you a Lady?"  
  
In reply, Robyn stuck her tongue out at him, and refused to say any more.  
  
"Fine, be that way. And them?" Duncan pointed at the girls.  
  
"We are the Sailor Senshi, soldiers of Love and Justice, and it is our duty to protect the universe from the evil of the Nega-verse. Reincarnated 2000 years after the destruction of our court on the moon, we have returned to fight evil and keep what happened on the moon from happening here on Earth." Usagi's English was getting noticeably better. She yawned, forcing the others to take notice of the time.  
  
"Geeze," Minako said, "we've sure been busy the last few days. We need some rest."  
  
"Yeah, well..." Robyn seemed reluctant to leave. "The girls have to fly back to Tokyo tomorrow morning, and Override and I fly out tomorrow too."  
  
Duncan remembered what 'Ramirez' had told him just before the Quickening. "Can I drive you to the airport?"  
  
"Sure," Override said, taking the initiative. "If you don't mind getting a cab from the airport."  
  
"I've got money to spare. In 400 years you can earn quite a lot of interest."  
  
Epilogue: 'Farewell sweet Prince'?   
  
The next morning, Duncan arrived at the hotel a couple of hours before the girls' flight was supposed to leave so he could drive them to the airport. Everyone piled their luggage into the van, paying no attention to the one extra bag in the back.  
  
Everyone sat in the back except Duncan, who was driving, and Robyn, who got the front seat. Duncan started up the car, and the radio came on. He heard the familiar strains of 'Scotland The Brave' and was startled by the techno beat, followed by a voice singing "Up Your Kilt!" Override laughed as Robyn leaned down, face obscured by her hair, and hit the skip forward button on the CD player, allowing the soothing strains of 'Can't Turn You Loose' to fill the van.  
  
Arriving at the airport, everyone piled out of the van, heading off in different directions. The Japanese visiters checked their baggage, Override and Robyn went to the ticket counter, and Duncan disappeared for a while. They met up in the food court in the center of the airport after a while, and talked. Ami was very sad to be leaving Override, even after knowing him only five days; she loved him with all her heart.  
  
The group walked slowly to the gate for the plane to Tokyo, and Robyn and Override surprised the Senshi by handing the stewardess boarding passes for the plane.  
  
"But..." Ami was overwhelmed, "you..."  
  
"I love you Ami. I'm going with you to Japan, and I will never leave you." Override leaned down and planted a soft, loving kiss upon her lips.  
  
"What about Robyn?" Ami breathed when the world started to turn again.  
  
"I go where the big guy goes." She looked at Ami's confused expression and said, "I get paid a whole lot of money to follow him around and make sure nobody goes and plasters his royal ass all over the landscape."  
  
Then it was Robyn's turn to be shocked, as Duncan handed over a boarding pass as well.  
  
"Why?" She took off her sunglasses and looked deeply into his eyes, searching for an answer.  
  
"I've never met anyone like you, I want to spend as much time with you as I can. I want to get to know you." So saying, he followed Override and Ami's example and kissed her. "If that's okay with you?"  
  
In an effort to show her own feelings Robyn reached for him, sliding her hands under his everpresent trenchcoat. She pulled him to her in a silent embrace, the two of them hidden by the black leather coat. Again, Duncan leaned down pressing his lips to hers, and he had his answer. Hand in hand, they climbed onto the plane.  
  
"I hope our trip home is uneventful. We haven't had any rest for days." Minako could be heard saying as they boarded the plane.

**_Fin_**

* * *

For original adventures starring Robyn, Aetolus and the gang, please check out http:www.psychosix.com

I know, I know... shameless self promotion...


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